Sole and method of making



M. E. JOHNSON. SOLE AND METHOD OF MAKlNG. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 2,I920- 1,393,787. Patented Oct. 18, 1921..

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MERTON E. JOHNSON, OF BEVERLY, -MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 UNITED SHOEMACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEWJERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

SOLE AND METHOD OF MAKING.

Patented Oct. 18, 1921.

Original application filed October 18, 1919, Serial No. 331,580. Dividedand this application filed Decemher 2, 1920. Serial No. 427,738.

enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

This invention relates to soles and the method of making them and moreparticularly to insoles of the peaked toe type in the fitting of whichit is found desirable to remove a portion of the lip at the tip of thetoe to enable said lip to be raised for the inseam sewing operation.

The invention herein described and claimed is divided out of theinventors application Serial No. 331,580, filed October 18, 1919, whichdescribes and claims a machine for making the novel sole.

Peaked toe insoles have heretofore been provided with a V-shaped notchin the lip material at the tip of the toe and a lineal slit in the flapmaterial just at the rear of the notch, by means of an insole snippingmachine such as is disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States toJohn B. Hadaway, No. 1,087,578, dated February 17 1914:. In using soleblanks, fitted by the Hadaway machine for Economy insoles, the slits inlip and flap are directly opposite each other when the lip and flap areraised and secured together to form the sewing-rib, resulting ina-weakened sewing rib at the tip of the toe.

One object of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantagereferred to, and to devise a method of making soles which, althoughfitted in the general manner suggested by Hadaway, will nevertheless beprovided with a strong sewing-rib through out its length.

A. further object of the invention is to provide a fitting of thecharacter described for peaked toe soles which will properly, although.not unduly, enlarge the confined channel flap space at the toe so as togive opportunity for an easier movement of'the channel guide of the weltand turn sewing machine during the inseaming operation.

To the accomplishment of these objects the invention comprises a solehaving the features and characteristics hereinafter described, and themethod of making it, as particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred fitting to be used,in which Figure 1 shows a sole blank as incised by the machine of saidparent application for Economy insoles; Figs. 2 and 3 show the result ofchanneling the blank of Fig. 1; Fig. 4; is a cross-section on the lineet-l' of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section on the line 55 of Fig.8; Fig. 6 is a cross-section showing the incised and channeled toe endof the sole after the lip setting operation; and Fig. 7 is'a perspectiveof the forepart of an Economy insole, partly broken away, illustratingthe sole shown in Fig. 3 after the lip-setting operation.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings the soleblank is fitted at the toe with two incisions 8 and 10, the formerextending through the lip material and the latter through the flapmaterial. A third incision 12 extending through the flap material at theoutside ball may be made if the style of the shoe makes it requisite.The incisions at the toe may be made in a machine such as that disclosedin the parent application Serial No. 331,580, in which the incision 8 isformed by a V-shaped knife and the incision 10 is formed by a straightbladed knife, the sole being so positioned for receiving the cuts thatthe V-shaped incision is centrallyof the tip of the toe and the linealincision is made obliquely across the median line of the sole, all asillustrated in Fig. 1. The incision 19., when used, is made by a secondoperation of the straight bladed knife, the position of the sole beingso changed as to receive the cut in the desired location.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, a sole blank having at the toe end theV-shaped incision 8 and the oblique lineal incision 10 at the rearthereof, is taken to anyv commercial channeling machine for the nextoperation. If an Economy insole is to be produced from the blank, it ischanneled by an edge slitting knife 14: and a channel forming knife 16in the usual way. During the channeling operation the lip knife 14passes horizontally through the incision 8 which produces a notch 18 inthe lip at the tip of the toe (see Fig. 3). Also during the channelingthe channel knife 1.6 passes horizontally through the incision 10 andreaches the position shown in Fig. 2 before the sole is swung to channelthe other side. As a result, after the channeling at the toe iscompleted'the channel flap is provided with two transverse slits 20 and22 Fig. 3) formed, respectively, by the straight bladed incising knifeand the channel knife 16. A triangular. tongue 24 at the apex of thechannel cuts is formed between these two slits. The reason and necessityfor an oblique cut by the straight bladed knife will now be apparent.Since the channel flap slit 22 is formed by an extension of the channelcut on one side of the sole the slit 20 should be similarly located toproduce the tongue 24, hence it must lie in the line of the channel cuton the other side of the sole, or obliquely across the median line ofthe sole. Now then, when the lip and flap are raised and set in contact(see Fig. 7) the tongue 24 is so located as to overlie the slit 26(dotted line Fig. 6), formed by the meeting edges of the notch 81 andthus strengthen the sewing-rib where it would otherwise be weak. Insteadof a single central V-shaped notch in the upturned channel flap as isproduced by the machine of said Hadaway patent, the channel flap now hastwo such notches 28 on either side of the center, formed by thespreading of the slits 20 and 22, with the lip strengthening tonguebetween them. The advantages accruing from this construction inobtaining a strong, tight inseam about the toe will readily be apparentto those skilled in the art.

No ris the advantage of the two channel flap slits 20 and 22 limited tothe production of Economy insoles. In all peaked toe soles muchdifficulty is experienced at inseaming in forcing the channel guide ofthe welt or turn sewing machine through the confined space at the apexof the channel.

The transverse channel flap slits 20 and 22 provide a more elasticchannel flap at this point, permitting it to lift freely as the sole isswung and afiord sufiicient space for the passage of the channel guide.It will be recognized then that an oblique slit 10, as made by thestraight bladed knife alone, is important and of considerable value insewing soles which have no lip which needs strengthening such as turnsoles or welt insoles for womens work.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that even in welt insoles wherethe peripheral curve at the toe is such as to render the use of theV-shaped lip incision 8 unnecessary, still the V. formed at the apex ofthe channel cuts may be so narrow as to render the oblique incision 10highly desirable,

since by the use of such an incision the binding of the channel guide atinseaming is relieved.

Having thus described the invention and the preferred method ofpractising it, the invention is stated in its true scope in thefollowing claims.

WVhat is claimed as new, is:

1. A sole having a .V-shaped incision in its margin at the tip of thetoe, and a lineal incision at the rear thereof but oblique thereto.

2. A sole having a V-shaped incision in its margin at the tip-of the toearranged symmetrically with respect to the median line of the sole, anda lineal incision at the rear thereof but lying across said median line.

3. A sole having a channel flap which is slit transversely at each sideof the toe end thereof, said slits forming a continuation of the channelcut on the opposite side, producing a free tongue at the apex formed bythe channel cuts.

4. A sole having a lip provided with a V- shaped notch at the tip of thetoe, and a channel flap having a free tongue at the apex of the channelcuts.

5. A sole having a lip and channel flap raised and set in contact witheach other, said lip having a vertical slit at the tip of the toe, andsaid flap having V-shaped notches at each side of said slit and aninverted V-shaped tongue between them.

6. An unchanneled sole blank having a lineal incision extending in thedirection of the proposed channel cut at one side of the sole andcutting through the channel flap material at the other side of the sole.

7 The method of making soles which comprises incising a sole blank atthe toe by an oblique cut extending in the direction of the channel cuton the last side of the sole to be channeled, channeling through saidincision to a point transversely opposite the forward end thereof, andthen swinging the sole and completing the channel cut.

8. The method of making soles which comprises producing a free tongue inthe channel flap at the apex of the channel cuts by the combination ofan oblique incision in the sole blank and a channel out which passesthrough one end of saidincision. 9. The method of making soles whichcomprises producing a lip notched at the tip of the toe, producing achannel fiap'having contact, and employing said free tongue to reinforcethe slit formed by the meeting edges of said lip notch.

MERTON E. JOHNSON.

